The Racing Season Begins with Inaugural Yamaha Official Teams Test

Yamaha Motor Europe officially kick started the 2015 road racing season this week with the first ever Official Race Teams combined test. The Alcarras circuit in sunny Spain played host to an incredible spectacle as more than 20 fully race prepared next generation YZF-R1s and YZF-R1Ms made their track debut for the first ever shakedown.

Endurance World Championship teams GMT94 Yamaha and Monster Energy Yamaha (YART) were joined by British Superbikeâ€™s Milwaukee Yamaha, IDM German Superbike Championshipâ€™s Team Yamaha MGM (Michael Galinski Motorsport) and European Superstock 1000 contenders The Morillas Racing School Team (MRS) for the two day test.

Alongside Yamahaâ€™s Official Racing Teams a further 11 supported teams were present for the shakedown, providing a unique opportunity for Yamaha Motor Europeâ€™s Racing Division to capture valuable data to further develop the already formidable YZF-R1. The advanced MotoGP level electronics package combined with a compact size, low weight and other technical advances meant the riders were able to start finding a competitive pace very early in the test.

With some championships starting in just a few weeks time, the test has proved a solid platform to launch the 2015 YamahaRacing hunt for glory with the all-new YZF-R1 and YZF-R1M.

Andrea Dosoli â€“ Yamaha Motor Europe Road Racing Project Managerâ€śWe finally had the opportunity to put the wheels of the new YZF-R1 on the race track after the long winter preparations. It was amazing to have almost 25 YamahaR1 riders all together. Itâ€™s a clear example of the new Yamaha Motor Europe racing strategy. We had three nice days that gave all the riders a chance to get to know the bike and get the first feeling. It was amazing to see how our expectations of the bike were confirmed by smiles on our riderâ€™s faces. We werenâ€™t here to break a lap record, our target was to get the whole package to work well together and honestly, we are satisfied with a job well done. We were able to secure a lot of valuable data and the stock bike is already at a very high level with the riders working hard from the first lap to develop it even further. The Superbike is a new project so there is more work to be done, but thatâ€™s normal at this stage of development. The feedback that we were given was very positive and the potential is high, so weâ€™re happy. A big thank you to the teams and the riders for being here, we really appreciate the effort from everybody. This is the perfect platform to start the 2015 season from; we have started strongly and will continue to move forward. â€ť

Mathieu Gines â€“ GMT94 Yamahaâ€śItâ€™s a different track here at Alcarras and not very easy, but itâ€™s good for testing the YZF-R1 because it has fast and slow corners and itâ€™s good to see the potential of the bike, which I think will be very big. The feeling is very positive. Itâ€™s a great bike! We hope to repeat our performance of last year and win the World Championship. We will give it our all. I also ride in the IDM Superstock too and I hope to win in that championship with this fantastic bike as well.â€ť